Tech gets S&P 500 to new high

Market has recovered all the ground it lost over the previous two weeks

Associated Press

Associated Press

Published 6:39 pm, Monday, April 29, 2013

Trader Luigi Muccitelli, left, and specialist Michael Pistillo, center, work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, April 29, 2013. A pair of encouraging economic reports helped propel the stock market up in early trading on Monday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Trader Luigi Muccitelli, left, and specialist Michael Pistillo,...

Specialist Meric Greenbaum, left, works with traders on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, April 29, 2013. A pair of encouraging economic reports helped propel the stock market up in early trading on Monday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Meric Greenbaum, left, works with traders on the floor...

The handheld device of trader Joseph Tarangelo, center, is reflected in his glasses as he works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, April 29, 2013. A pair of encouraging economic reports helped propel the stock market up in early trading on Monday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

The handheld device of trader Joseph Tarangelo, center, is...

Trader George Ettinger works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange Monday, April 29, 2013. A pair of encouraging economic reports helped propel the stock market up in early trading on Monday. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Technology companies led the Standard & Poor's 500 index to an all-time closing high Monday.

The stock market has recovered all the ground it lost over the previous two weeks, when worries over slower economic growth, falling commodity prices and disappointing quarterly earnings battered financial markets.

The S&P 500 index rose 11.37 points to close at 1,593.61. The 0.7 percent increase nudged the index above its previous closing high of 1,593.36, reached on April 11.

"The market has had a terrific run," said Philip Orlando, chief equity strategist at Federated Investors, noting that the S&P 500 is up 12 percent since the start of 2013. "At the beginning of the year, I thought we were going to 1,660 (for the whole year). We're only about 5 percent from that."

A pair of better economic reports gave investors some encouragement. Wages and spending rose in the U.S. last month, and pending home sales hit their highest level in three years.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 106.20 to 14,818.75, up 0.7 percent. Microsoft and IBM were among the Dow's best performers, rising more than 2 percent each. IBM alone accounted for a third of the Dow's increase. The index is just 46 points below its own record high of 14,865 reached on April 11.

Tech's popularity Monday was a change from earlier this month, when it lagged the rest of the market. Concerns about weak business spending and slower overseas sales have cast a shadow over big tech firms, said Marty Leclerc, the managing partner of Barrack Yard Advisors, an investment firm in Bryn Mawr, Pa.